Site work and new construction of a parking garage in Cincinnati, Ohio. Completed plans call for the construction of a parking garage; and for site work for a parking garage.

A recently constructed building in a fast-growing section of Cincinnati now has another new retail tenant. The Collective, an art collective of more than 200 local artists based in Columbia Tusculum, is expanding into Over-the-Rhine to open a second and larger location on West Elder Street. The new space sits on the ground floor a parking garage near Findlay Market. The $31 million, 515-spot structure, owned by Hamilton County, opened in December 2023. Real estate firm Urban Fast Forward is leasing the 15,000 square feet of available retail space. Columbus-based Dueling Axes was the first tenant announced late last month. The Collective is the second. Kathleen Norris, Urban Fast Forward's managing principal, told me the Collective will be transformative for the Findlay Market art scene. "I call it a hybrid gallery," the Collective owner and founder Aly Stacy said. Ally Stacyexpand Ally Stacy is the owner and founder of the Collective Aly Stacy Her shop in Columbia Tusculum features work from hundreds of local artists including homemade soaps, pottery and prints. Stacy said that galleries often have an unapproachable aura around them, and she wants to break away from that stereotype. She's curated a showcase that appeals to all walks of life. The Collective has $5,000 paintings from larger, well-known Cincinnati artists and more affordable work from new up-and-comers. She officially signed a lease for the new space a few weeks ago. Around 2,500 square feet will be used for the gallery and shop while an additional 1,000 square feet will be utilized for educational purposes. She plans on giving artists the opportunity to teach people about their work in a classroom setting. "We are missing this in Cincinnati," Stacy said. "It's really exciting." Construction just started. This is her first new white-box build. She said it gives her the opportunity to start fresh and transform the empty space into something amazing. She's handling most of the design work. She said her background in set design has helped her transform spaces over the years. Her husband, Beau, is a carpenter and will handle most of the buildout. Due to the location's size, Stacy said she does plan on hiring additional local help. The couple is hoping to stay in the $300,000 to $400,000 range for the build-out. The goal is to open in the spring of 2025. Stacy said once both spaces are up and running, they will feature two completely separate galleries. The only similarities will be art from her top sellers. She said pottery is really in right now. Another one of her biggest hits is Seth Pitt, the creator of the Art of Seth. With the new OTR storefront, hundreds more local creators will get the opportunity to showcase their work. "This is a big opportunity for artists," Stacy said. She hand curates the gallery and spends a lot of time sifting through her dozens of submissions. She usually has a wait list of around eight to 12 weeks. The Collective works on a rotation-based system so that most artists get the chance to showcase their work. "The talent in Cincinnati is amazing," she said. "I am super proud of our city. It has come a long way embracing the arts." Currently, she runs the shop with her husband and her three kids. Once the new store opens, she plans on hiring people from the community. "From the outside, people think we are bigger than we really are," Stacy said. Stacy opened the first iteration of the Collective in New Richmond back in 2020. Her clothing company KreativeMindz, which specializes in bamboo material from California, gave her the platform she needed to launch the Collective. In 2022, she moved to Columbia Tusculum to be closer to her customer base. She said that a second location was always the plan, but she wasn't exactly sure where. It turns out that she never had to do any searching on her own. Norris first approached Stacy about moving into OTR as the Collective was moving into Columbia Tusculum. The timing didn't exactly work out, but in 2023, talks started getting more serious. Findlay Market is full of small creators and so is the Collective. "It seems like a perfect location for us in the city," Stacy said. Gina Brock of Urban Fast Forward represented the Collective while Norris represented Hamilton County. Around 1,000 square feet is still available to lease on the ground floor of the garage. Norris teased that she will likely be able to announce a third tenant very soon. "It's another strong addition to market that is going to knock your socks off," Norris said. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2022/11/30/residential-parking-findlay-market.html Cincinnati City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to set aside more parking only for residents near Findlay Market in Over-the-Rhine, an area that is facing an extreme parking crunch because of the removal of spaces to construct a new parking garage. Cincinnati City Council is expected to approve an ordinance Wednesday restricting parking on Green Street between Elm and Race streets and Pleasant Street between the market and West Liberty Street for residents only. Parking is at a premium near the market as Hamilton County constructs a new, $18 million 515-space garage in the northeast corner of Elder Street and Central Parkway. The site used to be a surface parking lot. Findlay Market has two other lots serving it - one north of the market along Findlay Street and another on the south side of West Elder Street between Logan and Campbell streets. Residents have been clamoring for the residential-only parking zone and say they have faced resistance from the city. Alexis Marsh, a nearby resident, said she and her neighbors have incurred parking tickets and have parked on the sidewalks "to get home safely." "There is nowhere else to park. Most of us have young children, are seniors, disabled or are single and simply do not feel safe parking in less populated districts. Our cars are assets in a city like Cincinnati that's very spread out and without a mass transit system that can get us to our jobs, health care, schools and families quickly," Marsh told council on Monday. "City administrators and developers have suggested I move to a neighborhood that does have parking, to ride my bike more - that if I live near Findlay Market I should not need a car, that I should be using public transit, learn to walk a couple of blocks. I have seen this community's needs for parking be ignored, dismissed and patronized in favor of folks who do not live there or do and have everything they need to make a life in this district." Parking on the sidewalks is illegal and blocks residents with mobility disabilities and/or wheelchairs. Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney said "it's really kind of crazy" that people are parking on the sidewalk. Councilman Mark Jeffreys also has introduced a motion to come up with a parking plan for the area, which the administration is working on. "We're going to have the whole parking situation solved in OTR north," Kearney said. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2022/06/03/hamilton-county-will-save-millions-on-findlay-mark.html Hamilton County will get about $2 million from the state of Ohio for its Findlay Market garage project, money that will allow it to use local parking revenue that was going to go to the project for something else. The $24.5 million project is undergoing bidding now, with only one of the four bid packages remaining for the mechanical, electrical, plumbing and facade, according to Phil Beck, the Banks executive overseeing the project. The county was set to build the project, which will serve both Findlay Market and FC Cincinnati, with parking revenue from the Banks garages, but now the money can be used for something else later. The project includes first-floor retail space, which will have the effect of extending Findlay Market to Central Parkway. The garage will be located in the northeast corner of Central Parkway and Elder Street. "We're very grateful for it," Beck said. "The parking revenue we're not spending could be applied elsewhere." However, the price of the garage has gone up from its pre-Covid estimate, which was at about $22 million. The county faced increased costs because of the pandemic, inflation and labor shortages. The project was one of dozens of Tri-State projects funded by the Ohio General Assembly in its $3.5 billion capital legislation, which funds initiatives throughout the state. _______________ https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2022/05/12/findlay-market-garage-gets-green-light.html Hamilton County says the new, estimated $18 million parking garage slated to serve Findlay Market and FC Cincinnati is cleared for construction after an Over-the-Rhine group dropped a zoning-related appeal. Two recent city Zoning Board of Appeals hearings on the county-built garage set to for 1815 Logan had been delayed, with another scheduled for earlier this week. Tuesday's hearing was cancelled after the petitioner, the Over-the-Rhine Foundation, withdrew the case late Friday. Representatives of the organization could not be reached for comment. The foundation had appealed a Historic Conservation Board decision last year to allow the county to build the garage. It argued the design did not comply with the city's historic guidelines and the county's decision to remove historic granite curbs lining Logan Street also ran afoul of regulations. The county also plans to preserve the curbs and use them at the site. The county had moved for the appeal to be dismissed. It said the appeal instead should have been made to the Cincinnati City Council. The conservation board ruled 4-2 to allow the project to go forward. The city's urban conservator, who serves as staff for the board, also recommended it. The Cincinnati City Council recently approved the vacation of part of Logan Street to make way for the garage, which will have 515 spaces and first-floor retail, extending market-area commercial spaces to Central Parkway. The county planned to take bids on concrete for the project Wednesday. It will also bid finishes for the structure next month. The county has continued to work on the project, including the deep foundation, while the legal challenge has been ongoing. The garage is part of the county's agreement to build structured parking to serve FC Cincinnati on game days. "It didn't hold us up. We're continuing to build. We're continuing to bid," said Phil Beck, the county official overseeing the project, adding inflation has been the biggest concern. _________________ As of April 7, 2022, bids were canceled. No definite date for the rebid. Hamilton County Findlay Market Garage Bid Package #3 General Construction. This is a prevailing wage project, and the Estimated Budget is $16,942,178 - General Construction. Bidder questions are due by Thursday, March 10, 2022, by 12:00 PM